Cubans are starting to embrace the English language

A
poster where English classes are offered is seen at a private
house in HavanaThomson
Reuters

Gilberto Gonzalez learned Russian at a school in Havana at the
height of the Cold War when the Soviet Union was Cuba's closest
ally, but 30 years later he's rusty and remembers little more
than, 'da,' and 'nyet.'

Now, as relations thaw with the United States, Gonzalez wants his
children to learn English to grasp opportunities arising from
Cuba's new closeness to the old enemy. He has ordered them to
sign up at a private English school in the city.

"It doesn't matter that it's expensive, but it is what can open
doors now what we are starting a new era," said Gonzalez, a
45-year-old civil engineer who has changed jobs and now works as
a taxi driver, earning more.

Teaching English has become a minor boom industry in Havana, with
dozens of schools opening in private homes in the wake of
President Raul Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama's December,
2014 agreement to normalize relations.

English has been the most popular second language for many years
in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. But the detente
has added new impetus and learning the language has won support
from the Communist leadership.

"We have to speak English. If you can speak two or three
languages, all the better, but English is essential," said José
Ramón Machado Ventura, No. 2 in the Communist Party and one of
the original leaders of the revolution that defeated a
pro-American government in 1959.

The government added English to the list of priorities for
schools last year, along with Cuban history and Spanish.

The official embrace of English and the prospect of millions of
U.S. tourists coming to the Caribbean island once Washington
completely removes travel restrictions have led to a surge of
teachers and students.

Classes cost between $10 and $30 a month, in a country where the
average state salary is just $25. But a growing number of Cubans
are enjoying income from private ventures and from money sent by
family members overseas.

Cuba's
former President Fidel Castro lamented his decision to have Cuba
focus on learning Russian instead of English.REUTERS/Cubadebate

Not everyone, however, is happy. Teacher Deisy Perez says her
informal school in her Havana home has lost customers as more
options open up.

"There's more competition now between the private language
schools," said Perez, who has been giving classes for 15 years.

It wasn't always this way. For a period in the 1970s, learning
Russian was mandatory for about a third of secondary school
pupils.

But even former President Fidel Castro lamented his decision to
focus on Russian when the Soviet Union was Cuba's closest ally.

"The Russians learned English, the whole world learned English,
and we learned Russian," Castro said in televised remarks last
year.